Adjustable support for bobbins

ABSTRACT

An adjustable support for bobbins comprising a spool holder, a shaft and a plurality of holding devices. The holding devices are of such shape and are so mounted as to permit the support of cylindrical as well as conical bobbin tubes of different diameters.

[ 11 3,744,735 1 July 10, 1973 United States Patent 1 Koenig ADJUSTABLE SUPPORT FOR BOBBINS 3,434,675 3/1969 Zuckerman............. [76] Inventor: Alfred Koenig, Seb. Weilerstr. 3, 7/19 Kremchmarwwm Belsen/Kreis, Tuebingen, Gennany Aug. 26,1971

[21] Appl. No.: 175,097

[22] Filed:

Primary Examiner-Leonard D. Christian Att0rneyMichael S. Striker [30] Foreign Application Priority Data ABSTRACT Sept. 25, 1970 Germany...,............... P 20 47 214.4

242/130 [51] Int. Cl. B6Sh 49/02, D03j 5/08 An adjustable support for bobbins comprising a spool [58] Field of Search"................... 242/72, 128, 129, holder, a shaft and a plurality of holding devices. The 242/129.5129.8, 130, 130.1 holding devices are of such shape and are so mounted as to permit the support of cylindrical as well as conical bobbin tubes of different diameters.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,659,803 5/1972 242/130] 8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PAIENIU, JHL 101913 FIG. 3

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IN"'-IN TOR. ALFRED KOHV/ flaw 4425 {[14 {1,

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1 ADJUSTABLE SUPPORT FOR BOBBINS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to supports for bobbins and more particularly to an adjustable support for bobbins with cylindrical or conical bobbin tubes of various diameters and height.

Supports for bobbins exist in which an adjustable or elastic holding device, provided at the middle of a spool holder, engages the inner wall of a bobbin tube and supports it. The existing supports exhibit several disadvantages.

One disadvantage is that in some types of supports the support is firmly attached to the bobbin tube. A disadvantage associated with many bobbin supports is that the elastic holding device has a fixed tension which cannot be changed and which makes it difficult to support bobbin tubes of different diameters. Many of the existing adjustable supports are provided with complicated adjusting mechanisms which makes their manufacture so expensive that from an economic standpoint alone it prevents their being used extensively in the textile industry.

It has already been proposed to provide an adjustable support for bobbins in which a basket-shaped holding device provided with outwardly bowable spring lamellae is mounted on a mandrel or shaft which is provided with a screwdown mechanism for changing the extent of the bow in the lamellae so as to engage the inner wall of the bobbin spool. This adjustable support, all of whose parts may be composed of synthetic plastic materials, lends itself very well to supporting bobbins having conical or cylindrical shaped bobbin tubes of conventional dimensions.

The tendency, however, is to try to put more and more yarn on a single bobbin, that is to produce bigger bobbins, so as to lower thefrequency of changing bobbins as well as to minimize the downtime of the machines that utilize the yam. Knitting machines used to be equipped with bobbin holders located in vertical orientation in the upper regions of the machine. In the newer installations the bobbins are placed is special fixtures next to or surrounding the knitting machines. In some of these installations the bobbins are inclined to the vertical, so that the supports known from the art and suitable when the bobbins were vertically oriented are either unsuitable or do not serve as well as is desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, a general object of the present invention to provide a bobbin support which is not subject to the disadvantages of the prior art.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide an adjustable support which may be used to hold conical or cylindrical bobbin spools of different diameter and length.

A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable support which is particularly suitable to be used for heavy, large sized bobbins in which the bobbins are securely held even when they must be supported inclined to the vertical.

The invention is embodied in an adjustable support for bobbins comprising a spool holder provided with a shaft which at its free end has an external screw thread. A plurality of holding devices slidably surround the shaft. Each holding device comprises two longitudinally spaced annular portions which are connected with one another at their outer peripheries by a plurality of outwardly bowed spring lamellae. A nut engages the external screw thread of the shaft and abuts one of the annular portions of a holding device. As the nut is turned down on the shaft the axial length of the holding devices is decreased and the extent to which the lamellae are outwardly bowed is increased. The bobbin support may thus be adjusted to the shape of the bobbin spool so that it can support and hold the bobbin securely.

When several of these individual holding devices slidably surround the shaft, or when a holding device made by combining a pair of the individual holding devices into one piece is mounted on the shaft, the outwardly bowed spring lamellae will engage and hold the inner wall of the bobbin tube at various longitudinally spaced location. Tests have shown that when a plurality of holding devices are placed in compression by means of the nut, the individual holding devices adjust themselves on the shaft in such a manner that their axial length may vary and therefore the extent that the spring lamellae bow outwardly also varies. It is this ability of the individual holding devices to extend to different diameters that enables the support to be used for holding conical shaped bobbin tubes.

By means of the nut, the compression between the spring lamellae and the inner wall of the bobbin tube may be varied. Further tests have shown that bobbins may be securely supported even when hanging upside down in the support. An important feature of the invention resides in the fact that the spring lamellae engage the bobbin tube at several longitudinally spaced locations and not at one single location as occur with some of the existing adjustable supports. This insures that no individual location will be subjected to possibly damaging tilting moments as the bobbin revolves and dispenses its yarn.

Another important feature of the support resides in the fact that the number of holding devices that may be used with a particular shaft as well as the length of the shaft may be varied. That is, the shaft may be mounted in a removable manner on the spool holder. In addition the length of the shaft may be varied by making it out of several tubular sections connected coaxially with one another by means of connecting bolts. In this manner a single adjustable bobbin support is provided which is easily and quickly adapted to be used to support a variety of bobbins.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1- is a diagrammatic axial section through an adjustable support for bobbins according to the present invention, supporting a cylindrical bobbin tube;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one of the holding devices of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary axial section through a shaft comprising several tubular sections coaxially connected by means of a connecting bolt; and

FIG. 4 is an axial section, similar to FIG. 1, of an adjustable bobbin support, supporting a conical bobbin tube.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:

Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown an adjustable support for bobbins comprising a hollow shaft which at its free end is provided with an external screw thread 11 and which at its opposite end has a flange 12. The shaft 10 is mounted in the center of a spool holder 13 with the flange 12 of advantageously polygonal outline being seated in a mating recess in the spool holder thus constituting cooperating connecting portions which connect the shaft with the spool holder so as to prevent axial or rotational movement of the shaft relative to the spool holder.

Two holding devices 14 and 15 in axially adjacent relationship slidably surround the shaft 10. Each holding device comprises two longitudinally spaced annular portions 16 and 17 in the holding device 14 and 16 and 17 in the holding device 15, and a plurality of outwardly bowed spring lamellae l8 and 18' which extend between the two outer perimeters of the annular portions 16 and 17 and 16' and 17', respectively. The annular portion 17' bears against an abutment 13b, here shown as being provided on the spool holder 13. As may be seen in FIG. 2, in the embodiment shown, five equally spaced spring lamellae 18 extend from the outer periphery of the annular portion 16 in the holding device 14. The holding devices are composed of a synthetic plastic material. The extent to which the spring lamellae l8 and 18' are outwardly bowed is determined by the position of the nut 19 which engages the external screw thread 11 of the shaft 10. As the nut 19 is screwed down on the shaft 10 the annular portion 16 is displaced in the downward direction causing the spring lamellae 18 to bow outwardly. The compression is transmitted by the lamellae l8 and annular portion 17 to the annular portion 16 of the holding device 15. This in turn causes the annular portion 16' to move in a downward direction which causes the spring lamellae 18 to increase the extent of their outward bow. The spring lamellae 18 and 18' are provided with sufficient strength so that the compression experienced by one holding device is transmitted in equal measure to the adjacent holding device. As may be clearly seen in FIG. 1, the spring lamellae of each holding device engage the inner wall of the bobbin tube 20. The lamellae 18 and 18' engage the wall of the bobbin tube at two vertically spaced circular surface portions 21 and 22 respectively. The bobbin tube and the bobbin 23, the latter being shown here by a sequence of alternating dots and dashed lines, is thereby securely held in the support without there being any danger that the bobbin will tip over or become misaligned within the support.

The inside of the cup shaped spool holder 13 is spanned by an elastic cone-shaped support element 24 which is constituted of a segment of knitted tubular material. A rubber band 25 attaches the support element to the outside of the upper rim of the spool holder 13. A smaller rubber band 26 fastens the support element 24 to the outside of the bushing 13a. In addition, the small diameter end of the cone shaped support element 24 is pushed against the inside surface of the spool holder 13 by the annular portion 17' of the lowest holding device, thereby imparting a desired tension to the cone shaped support. The cone shaped support element 24 prevents yarn convolutions, which may slip off the bobbin as the yarn unwinds, from moving below the spool holder 13 and interfering with the unwinding of the yarn.

The shaft 10 does not necessarily have to be constructed in one piece but may in fact be assembled out of a plurality of tubular sections connected coaxially with one another by means of connecting bolts. In FIG. 3 a connection between two tubular sections 101 and 102 is shown. An external screw thread 110 and an internal screw thread 111 as well as a recess 112 is provided at each end of the tubular sections. The two tubular sections 101 and 102 are connected to one another by means of a bolt which has a central portion 103 and two threaded portions 104 and 105. In FIG. 3 the bolt is shown with dot-dashed lines. The threaded portion 104 is screwed in to the threads 11 l of the tubular section 101 and the threaded portion 105 engages the internal screw threads of the tubular section 102. The external screw thread is provided for the benefit of the nut 19 as shown in FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 4 there is shown an adjustable bobbin support comprising a shaft 30 provided with a flange 32 and a disk shaped spool holder 33 including a bushing 34 and an abutment 33b. The shaft 30 is mounted in the disk shaped spool holder 33 in a similar manner as that described in connection with FIG. 1. The shaft 30 is surrounded by three holding devices 35, 36, 37 of exactly the same construction as that of the holding devices 14 and 15 described in connection with FIG. 1. The nut 38 performs the same function for the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 as the nut 19 performed for the support shown in FIG. 1. As the nut 38 is turned down on the shaft 30 the axial length of the holding devices again decreases resulting in an increase in the outward bow of the spring lamellae. When the holding devices are initially placed in compression, that is before the conical shaped bobbin tube is placed on the support, or when used in conjunction with a cylindrical shaped bobbin tube, the axial length as well as the degree of outward bow of each of the holding devices 35-37 is approximately the same. However, when a conical shaped bobbin tube 39 is pressed down over the holding devices, the axial length as well as the degree to which the lamellae are outwardly bowed of each holding device becomes different. As may be clearly seen in FIG. 4 as the lamellae of the holding device 35 are pushed inwardly by the small diameter portion of the cone shaped bobbin tube 39 the axial length of the holding device 35 increases. This decreases the axial length of the remaining two holding devices 36 and 37 with the result that their spring lamellae increase the extent of their outward bow. The final result is that the lamellae of each of the holding devices are pressed against the inner wall of the conical bobbin tube. The holding devices 35-37 contact the inner wall of the bobbin tube at three circular surface portions 42, 40 and 41 respectively. The pressure with which the holding devices contact the inner wall of the cone shaped bobbin tube can, of course, be adjusted by means of the nut 38.

Although the holding devices have been described as separate entities there is no reason why they cannot be made in one piece. For example, the holding devices 14 and 15 shown in FIG. 1 could be made in one piece of synthetic plastic material. Or the holding devices 35-37 shown in FIG. 4 could be produced in one piece of synthetic plastic material.

The useful features of this invention are easily seen. We have here an adjustable bobbin support which provides a great deal of flexibility in use. In providing a removable shaft, which may be made as long as desired by simply combining individual shaft sections and with a supply of holding devices, a bobbin support can be quickly assembled to support a large variety of bobbins.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that from the standpoint of prior art fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended:

1. In an adjustable support for bobbins, in combination, a spool holder; a single shaft projecting from said spool holder and having a free end portion provided with an external screw thread; an abutment spaced from said free end portion; a plurality of holding devices slidably surrounding said shaft in axially adjacent relationship and each comprising two longitudinally spaced annular portions having outer peripheries and a plurality of outwardly bowed spring lamellae extending longitudinally of said shaft and fast with the outer peripheries of the respective annular portions, one of said annular portions being located proximal to said free end portion and another of said annular portions abutting against said abutment, the remainder of said annular portions being freely slidable along said shaft;

and nut means turnably engaging with said external screw thread and operative for abutting said one annular portionso as to exert operator-variable compression on said lamellae for changing the axial length of said holding devices and concomitantly the extent to which said lamellae are outwardly bowed.

2. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said holding devices is unitary, and wherein the holding devices are of synthetic plastic material.

3. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1, wherein said holding devices comprise a plurality of pairs, and wherein the holding devices of each pair are of one piece with one another and composed of synthetic plastic material.

4. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1, wherein said shaft comprises a plurality of tubular sections each provided with internal screw threads, and wherein said tubular sections are coaxially connected with one another by means of connecting bolts meshing with said internal screw threads.

5. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1, wherein said shaft is a discrete element; and further comprising cooperating connecting portions on said spool holder for releasably connecting said shaft with the spool holder against axial and rotational displacement relative thereto.

6. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 5, wherein said spool holder is cup shaped.

7. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 5, wherein said spool holder is disk shaped.

8. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1,

wherein said abutment is provided on said spool holder. =0: 

1. In an adjustable support for bobbins, in combination, a spool holder; a single shaft projecting from said spool holder and having a free end portion provided with an external screw thread; an abutment spaced from said free end portion; a plurality of holding devices slidably surrounding said shaft in axially adjacent relationship and each comprising two longitudinally spaced annular portions having outer peripheries and a plurality of outwardly bowed spring lamellae extending longitudinally of said shaft and fast with the outer peripheries of the respective annular poRtions, one of said annular portions being located proximal to said free end portion and another of said annular portions abutting against said abutment, the remainder of said annular portions being freely slidable along said shaft; and nut means turnably engaging with said external screw thread and operative for abutting said one annular portion so as to exert operator-variable compression on said lamellae for changing the axial length of said holding devices and concomitantly the extent to which said lamellae are outwardly bowed.
 2. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said holding devices is unitary, and wherein the holding devices are of synthetic plastic material.
 3. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1, wherein said holding devices comprise a plurality of pairs, and wherein the holding devices of each pair are of one piece with one another and composed of synthetic plastic material.
 4. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1, wherein said shaft comprises a plurality of tubular sections each provided with internal screw threads, and wherein said tubular sections are coaxially connected with one another by means of connecting bolts meshing with said internal screw threads.
 5. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1, wherein said shaft is a discrete element; and further comprising cooperating connecting portions on said spool holder for releasably connecting said shaft with the spool holder against axial and rotational displacement relative thereto.
 6. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 5, wherein said spool holder is cup shaped.
 7. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 5, wherein said spool holder is disk shaped.
 8. In an adjustable support as defined in claim 1, wherein said abutment is provided on said spool holder. 